7. Long-Term Borrowings

Long-term borrowings consist of the following:


	As of
	June 28,		September 28,
	2014		2013
7.5% senior notes, due October 1, 2018, including unamortized premium of $-0- and $28,614, respectively	$	—	$	525,171
7.375% senior notes, due March 15, 2020, net of unamortized discount of $1,237 and $1,400, respectively		248,763		248,600
7.375% senior notes, due August 1, 2021, including unamortized premium of $23,354 and $25,286, respectively		369,534		371,466
5.50% senior notes, due June 1, 2024		525,000		—
Revolving Credit Facility, due January 5, 2017		100,000		100,000

	$	1,243,297	$	1,245,237

Senior Notes.

2018 Senior Notes and 2021 Senior Notes

On August 1, 2012, the Partnership and its 100%-owned subsidiary, Suburban Energy Finance Corp., issued $496,557 in aggregate principal amount of unregistered 7.5% senior notes due October 1, 2018 (the “2018 Senior Notes”) and $503,443 in aggregate principal amount of unregistered 7.375% senior notes due August 1, 2021 (the “2021 Senior Notes”) in a private placement in connection with the Inergy Propane Acquisition described in Note 1. Based on market rates for similar issues, the 2018 Senior Notes and 2021 Senior Notes were valued at 106.875% and 108.125%, respectively, of the principal amount, on the Acquisition Date as they were issued in exchange for Inergy’s outstanding notes, not for cash. The 2018 Senior Notes required semi-annual interest payments in April and October, and the 2021 Senior Notes require semi-annual interest payments in February and August.

On December 19, 2012, the Partnership completed an offer to exchange its existing unregistered 7.5% senior notes due 2018 and 7.375% senior notes due 2021 (the “Old Notes”) for an equal principal amount of 7.5% senior notes due 2018 and 7.375% senior notes due 2021 (the “Exchange Notes”), respectively, that have been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The terms of the Exchange Notes are identical in all material respects (including principal amount, interest rate, maturity and redemption rights) to the Old Notes for which they were exchanged, except that the Exchange Notes generally will not be subject to transfer restrictions.

On August 2, 2013, the Partnership repurchased, pursuant to an optional redemption, $133,400 of its 2021 Senior Notes using net proceeds from the May 2013 public offering and net proceeds from the underwriters’ exercise of their over-allotment option to purchase additional Common Units. In addition, on August 6, 2013, the Partnership repurchased $23,863 of 2021 Senior Notes in a private transaction using cash on hand. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, in connection with these repurchases, which totaled $157,263 in aggregate principal amount, the Partnership recognized a loss on the extinguishment of debt of $2,144 consisting of $11,759 for the repurchase premium and related fees, as well as the write-off of $2,064 and ($11,678) in unamortized debt origination costs and unamortized premium, respectively.

On May 27, 2014, the Partnership repurchased and satisfied and discharged all of its 2018 Senior Notes with net proceeds from the issuance of the 2024 Senior Notes (see below) and cash on hand pursuant to a tender offer and redemption. In connection with this tender offer and redemption, during the third quarter of fiscal 2014, the Partnership recognized a loss on the extinguishment of debt of $11,589 consisting of $31,633 for the redemption premium and related fees, as well as the write-off of $5,230 and ($25,274) in unamortized debt origination costs and unamortized premium, respectively.

2020 Senior Notes

On March 23, 2010, the Partnership and its 100%-owned subsidiary, Suburban Energy Finance Corp., completed a public offering of $250,000 in aggregate principal amount of 7.375% senior notes due March 15, 2020 (the “2020 Senior Notes”). The 2020 Senior Notes were issued at 99.136% of the principal amount. The 2020 Senior Notes require semi-annual interest payments in March and September.

2024 Senior Notes

On May 27, 2014, the Partnership and its 100%-owned subsidiary, Suburban Energy Finance Corp., completed a public offering of $525,000 in aggregate principal amount of 5.50% senior notes due June 1, 2024 (the “2024 Senior Notes”). The 2024 Senior Notes were issued at 100% of the principal amount and require semi-annual interest payments in June and December, beginning in December 2014. The net proceeds from the issuance of the 2024 Senior Notes, along with cash on hand, were used to repurchase and satisfy and discharge all of the 2018 Senior Notes.

The Partnership’s obligations under the 2020 Senior Notes, 2021 Senior Notes and 2024 Senior Notes (collectively, the “Senior Notes”) are unsecured and rank senior in right of payment to any future subordinated indebtedness and equally in right of payment with any future senior indebtedness. The Senior Notes are structurally subordinated to, which means they rank effectively behind, any debt and other liabilities of the Operating Partnership. The Senior Notes each have a change of control provision that would require the Partnership to offer to repurchase the notes at 101% of the principal amount repurchased, if a change of control, as defined in the applicable indenture, occurs and is followed by a rating decline (a decrease in the rating of the notes by either Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. or Standard and Poor’s Rating Group by one of more gradations) within 90 days of the consummation of the transaction giving rise to the change of control.

Credit Agreement

The Operating Partnership has an amended and restated credit agreement entered into on January 5, 2012, as amended on August 1, 2012 and May 9, 2014 (collectively, the “Amended Credit Agreement”) that provides for a five-year $400,000 revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility”) of which $100,000 was outstanding as of June 28, 2014 and September 28, 2013. Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility may be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital, capital expenditures and acquisitions. The Operating Partnership has the right to prepay any borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility, in whole or in part, without penalty at any time prior to maturity.

During the second quarter of fiscal 2014, the Partnership experienced a significant increase in working capital requirements as a result of the significant increase in wholesale propane costs. The increase in working capital resulted in the net borrowing of $55,000 under the Partnership’s Revolving Credit Facility in the second quarter of fiscal 2014. These additional borrowings were repaid in full in April 2014 with internally generated cash.

The amendment and restatement of the credit agreement on January 5, 2012 amended the previous credit agreement to, among other things, extend the maturity date from June 25, 2013 to January 5, 2017, reduce the borrowing rate and commitment fees, and amend certain affirmative and negative covenants.

On August 1, 2012, the Operating Partnership executed an amendment to the Amended Credit Agreement to, among other things, provide for (i) a $250,000 senior secured 364-Day Facility and (ii) an increase in its revolving credit facility under the Amended Credit Agreement from $250,000 to $400,000. The amendment to the Amended Credit Agreement on August 1, 2012 also amended certain restrictive and affirmative covenants applicable to the Operating Partnership and the Partnership, as well as certain financial covenants, including (a) requiring the Partnership’s consolidated interest coverage ratio, as defined in the amendment, to be not less than 2.0 to 1.0 as of the end of any fiscal quarter; (b) prohibiting the total consolidated leverage ratio, as defined in the amendment, of the Partnership from being greater than 7.0 to 1.0 as of the end of any fiscal quarter. The minimum consolidated interest coverage ratio increases over time, and commencing with the second quarter of fiscal 2014, such minimum ratio is 2.5 to 1.0. The maximum consolidated leverage ratio decreased over time, as well as upon the occurrence of certain events, and commencing with the second quarter of fiscal 2013, such maximum ratio is 4.75 to 1.0 (or 5.0 to 1.0 during an acquisition period, as defined in the amendment).

On May 9, 2014, the Operating Partnership executed a second amendment to the Amended Credit Agreement to make certain technical amendments with respect to agreements relating to debt refinancing.

The Partnership acts as a guarantor with respect to the obligations of the Operating Partnership under the Amended Credit Agreement pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth therein. The obligations under the Amended Credit Agreement are secured by liens on substantially all of the personal property of the Partnership, the Operating Partnership and their subsidiaries, as well as mortgages on certain real property.

Borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility of the Amended Credit Agreement bear interest at prevailing interest rates based upon, at the Operating Partnership’s option, LIBOR plus the applicable margin or the base rate, defined as the higher of the Federal Funds Rate plus ¹⁄₂ of 1%, the agent bank’s prime rate, or LIBOR plus 1%, plus in each case the applicable margin. The applicable margin is dependent upon the Partnership’s ratio of total debt to EBITDA on a consolidated basis, as defined in the Revolving Credit Facility. As of June 28, 2014, the interest rate for the Revolving Credit Facility was approximately 2.5%. The interest rate and the applicable margin will be reset at the end of each calendar quarter.

In connection with the Amended Credit Agreement, the Operating Partnership entered into an interest rate swap agreement with a June 25, 2013 effective date and a maturity date of January 5, 2017. Under this interest rate swap agreement, the Operating Partnership will pay a fixed interest rate of 1.63% to the issuing lender on the $100,000 notional principal amount outstanding, and the issuing lender will pay to the Operating Partnership a floating rate, namely LIBOR, on the same notional principal amount. The interest rate swap has been designated as a cash flow hedge.

As of June 28, 2014, the Partnership had standby letters of credit issued under the Revolving Credit Facility of the Amended Credit Agreement in the aggregate amount of $53,681 which expire periodically through April 3, 2015. Therefore, as of June 28, 2014, the Partnership had available borrowing capacity of $246,319 under the Revolving Credit Facility.

The Amended Credit Agreement and the Senior Notes both contain various restrictive and affirmative covenants applicable to the Operating Partnership and the Partnership, respectively, including (i) restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, and (ii) restrictions on certain liens, investments, guarantees, loans, advances, payments, mergers, consolidations, distributions, sales of assets and other transactions. Under the Amended Credit Agreement and the indentures governing the Senior Notes, the Operating Partnership and the Partnership are generally permitted to make cash distributions equal to available cash, as defined, as of the end of the immediately preceding quarter if no event of default exists or would exist upon making such distributions, and with respect to the indentures governing the Senior Notes, the Partnership’s consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio, as defined, is greater than 1.75 to 1. The Partnership and the Operating Partnership were in compliance with all covenants and terms of the Senior Notes and the Amended Credit Agreement as of June 28, 2014.

The aggregate amounts of long-term debt maturities subsequent to June 28, 2014 are as follows: fiscal 2014 through fiscal 2016: $-0-; fiscal 2017: $100,000; fiscal 2018: $-0-; and thereafter: $1,121,180.